Remembering Pope Francis and his influence on pop culture

The late Pope Francis left behind a unique legacy not only in the world of the papacy, but also in the world of pop culture.

Tributes began pouring in from around the world after the Vatican announced the pontiff's death this past Monday. 

But even before this moment, there had in recent years been a renewed interest in the inner workings and the state of the Roman Catholic Church, due in no small part to both Pope Francis's unique approach to the role, as well as films like Conclave, The Two Popes, Sugarcane and Spotlight.

Today on Commotion, film critic Rad Simonpillai, comedian and podcast host Ashley Ray, and entertainment reporter Teri Hart join host Elamin Abdelmahmoud to talk about how Pope Francis and the papacy are portrayed in film and TV, and what it says about this moment. 

We've included some highlights below, edited for length and clarity. For the full discussion, listen and follow Commotion with Elamin Abdelmahmoud on your favourite podcast player.

Elamin: Pope Francis, I do think, was a figure that functioned in a different way, in a pop culture way…. Rad, Pope Francis was elected in 2013. How do you think the portrayal of the Pope and the papacy has evolved just in that period of time?

Rad: I think Pope Francis made the Vatican seem more accessible…. When I think of before Pope Francis and what I knew of the Vatican before that, it was The Godfather Part III, where there's all these depictions of the church and the Pope and the Vatican as this untouchable entity that's lording over you from up on high. In The Godfather Part III, we're literally finding out that the church is just as big a criminal organization as the mafia. That was my impression of the church. The Da Vinci Code, they're like the crypt. So there was this out of reach aspect of it. 

And then when Pope Francis comes in, all of a sudden you get all this storytelling where we're invited into the private chambers, we're invited into the conversations, we are invited into these men who are ultimately fallible and have their own doubts and who are debating and negotiating their own faith and they're pushing and pulling. I mean, I think it's because of the appeal of Pope Francis, because of his progressiveness, because all of a sudden the wider public were more fascinated with him, they all of a suddenly wanted to tell these kinds of stories about the Vatican, as opposed to it being this nefarious entity from up on high.

Elamin: Ashley, what do you make of what Rad is saying?

Ashley: I absolutely agree. I think a big part of Conclave is the Vatican realizing they can't separate themselves from the world anymore, that everywhere the world is quite literally exploding into this sort of secret, closed-off society they've created and that can't work anymore. So I think we are seeing that the Pope, that the Vatican has become more open. And I think that a lot of past media didn't really play into that. I think a lot of it was about humanizing this person at the center of this giant secretive society. If you look at a show like say Young Pope, which was super great, it's about the first American pope, HBO. Jude Law, yes. With Jude Law. Super sexy pope, but he plays the first American pope. And the twist is sort of that he is this hardline Catholic, even though he's young and American, and people are a little shocked by that. But at the end of it, it isn't so much about him trying to change anything or have bigger politics. It really is about him being this fallible guy who has depression and everything he's doing is acting out against his parents.

So I feel like past media, even when it came to The New Pope, which is The Young Pope's sort of sequel, it doesn't really look at the larger impact that the Vatican has on people's personal politics. And I love Conclave because it really does hit at that message and says what this person decides, it's not just gonna be business. This is gonna be how women access healthcare in different countries. People literally will create laws based on what this man says. And Conclave, I think, does a great job of bringing that reality to life.

Elamin: Teri, I want to give you the last word on this because I want to talk about some of the ways that Pope Francis showed up in pop culture in some unexpected ways. Do you want to tell the puffer jacket story? Because I still can't believe that's a real thing that spread around the internet. 

Teri: I do want to talk about the puffer jacket story, and I feel like it is the perfect place to end because I think everything that Ashley and Rad have been saying about how pop culture has been what has pulled back the curtain on all these rituals and it has happened as our media has changed. It has happened as social media has come into our lives. And people have been screaming from the rooftops that they want more authenticity from everybody — from every brand, from every influencer, from every pope. And what that means is even the Pope is not immune to being a meme. So a couple of years ago, he was memed in this very stylish white puffer jacket. It looked a bit more like Stay Puft Marshmallow Man than a Vatican pointy hat. And it went viral. It was a big lie. He didn't really wear that.

Elamin: It was AI-generated, yes. 

Teri: It was AI! He joined Twitter in 2013, and then he joined Instagram in 2016…. And he has 10 million followers on Instagram. I just want to point out that Instagram was actually created in 2013. So the Pope joined Instagram only three years after it was created. I think the Pope was on Instagram before I was, which I believe really does solidify him as the cool Pope.

You can listen to the full discussion from today's show on CBC Listen or on our podcast, Commotion with Elamin Abdelmahmoud, available wherever you get your podcasts.

Panel produced by Danielle Grogan.